Meet the team

What is The Pet Collective?

We shoot for the general public and also accept direct commissions and photo licensing requests from businesses (both large and small) who are looking for exciting photos of beautiful creatures to represent their commercial and animal-centric brands.

In this way, we offer a convenient alternative to licensing photos via a photo agency and can also shoot to request if there is something in particular you need for your website or social media channels.

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The Pet Collective photographers

Carly Wong

Carly is an experienced pet portrait photographer whose work focuses on creatively capturing the interesting details of an everyday life that's shared with pets (with a little quirkiness thrown into the mix).

She's grown up in the company of some wonderful creatures including Afghan Hound dogs, Birman cats, a lovely little tortoise called Clemmy, and along with Simon now shares a house with a trio of rescue cats.

In the summer of 2014 Carly hosted an unusual solo exhibition of her animal photography in Bristol and has been featured in various different publications and media.

In 2016 Carly and Simon were entrusted with photographing natural pet food company Forthglade's 2016 advertising campaigns for both cat and dog food. Carly is now proud to have also been appointed as an in-house judge for their Cat of the Month competition.

In addition to this Carly has provided exclusive blog content for Forthglade, sharing with them her pet photography expertise.

In her spare time Carly loves to dance!

Simon Withyman

With over 10 years in the field of photography it's fair to say that Simon has experience in all aspects of portraiture, from weddings, family portraits and fashion right through to local and national businesses.

His many years of working in children's photography has afforded him the unique gift of patience and skill in manipulating little people into beautiful photos (if you can convince a child to pose for a portrait instead of having a tantrum you've pretty much got it sussed).

Once you've conquered kids, pets are a breeze!

Simon adopted a life-long love for all animals large and small from his mother Cynthia, whose household still averages 3 cats at any given time. Over his lifetime Simon has lived with dogs, cats and even rats.

Simon is passionate about worldwide animal welfare issues and looks forward to sitting down to watch a nature documentary (anything by David Attenborough being a firm favourite).

In his spare time Simon enjoys interior design. He likes quirky home decor and has transformed The Pet Collective HQ into a treasure trove of bizarre discoveries.

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Creative and stylish

We adapt our style of photography to meet the individual requirements for each shoot, both in the way we'll approach the animal and the type of photos we will take.

Between us we have 18 years of photographic experience, and have always had our own much-loved animals, so rest assured that with The Pet Collective you and your pet are in safe hands.

We'll produce a varied selection of photos of your pet (and you/your family if you choose to be in the photos) which will include striking animal portraits, natural reportage and everyday lifestyle imagery.

We work hard to produce photos that you'll love and have all the tricks and knowledge to get exactly the results you're looking for.

Please note...

Photography is a full time job for both of us and we'll maintain a professional attitude at all times but we certainly don't take ourselves too seriously, so hopefully you don't either as we both enjoy a good laugh!

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Our personal pet collection

We have been lucky to give a home to 3 incredible rescue cats: Max, Louie and Charlie.

They all have unique personalities and entertain us constantly in their own little ways.

If you have lived with animals for long enough you will certainly have similar tales about your own pets!

Max

If you ever visited our house you'd be forgiven for thinking we had only 2 cats.

Shy boy Max is the softest natured cat you could ever meet.

Our first cat; a real sweetheart. He'll be content to lie on a beanbag for the rest of his days.

He literally would not hurt a fly. We once witnessed him running away from a spider (true story!)

Charlie

Everyone loves cheeky Charlie.

Little brother to Max and Louie, Charlie just LOVES company (whether feline or human).

Sociable, playful and vocal he's one of those special kitties that even non-cat people have loved.

We've even trained him to perform a few well known dog tricks on command such as "sit" and "roll".

Louie

The bad-ass of the gang. Despite being well fed at home Louie steals food from neighbouring houses.

The best haul to date is half a roast chicken which he delivered to Simon's first floor home office window.

Oh, and a rubber duck. Don't forget the duck.

Stealing aside, Louie is an affectionate and loyal boy. Sidekick to little Charlie.

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Giving back: our voluntary work

We recognise that sadly there is an abundance of unwanted animals needing homes, so we have embarked upon voluntary work for a small charity called Holly Hedge Animal Sanctuary in Bristol (where we adopted all our 3 cats).

We donate our spare time by using our photography skills to help get great photos of the animals that have not yet been chosen for adoption (some for many months) as we feel it's important to give back to a community of dedicated staff and volunteers who do such valuable work.

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Our location

We are based in Fishponds, Bristol, but we are happy to travel to any part of the greater Bristol/Bath area within the price stated in the photography packages.